Thrifty Thursday: Warranties and Repairs

This tip came to me from Genny, former TTT girl and blogger, and oddly at a time when my other friend, Jenny, was sharing similar events with me.

Taking advantage of warranties. Genny recently had an immersion blender stop working. But instead of throwing it out and buying a new one, she called the company. For a small fee they shipped her a new part, and the blender was able to be repaired.

Jenny’s story: someone had bought her daughter a toy for her birthday. Jenny didn’t get around to putting batteries in it to properly try it out for a couple of months, when she did, she discovered that it didn’t work. 😦 She tried to take it back to the store with the gift receipt she had, but too much time had passed and the store would not take it, and it was no longer stocked there. They told her to contact the manufacturer. When she did, the manufacturer (Hasbro) agreed to send her a new toy. She expressed her that it was a defect in the toy (since the store no longer carried it), and Hasbro agreed to send a similarly valued toy for the appropriate age of her daughter. At no charge. She did not have to send anything to them, or pay any shipping.

And as I write this I realize that I’ve had similar experiences myself. Once with a part for my pressure cooker, and once I broke one of the crystals on my chandelier in my bedroom. Both times the makers sent me the pieces I needed for little or no charge.

So a great way to save money – contact your manufacturers, save those warranties, and make those repairs. Much less expensive than buying new!

4 thoughts on “Thrifty Thursday: Warranties and Repairs”

And don’t be afraid to complain to the manufacturer when it takes too long to repair an item. We got a new vacuum after calling the company and saying two months is too long to wait for a few replacement parts – they agreed! Within a day, we had a brand new vacuum. 🙂

Most people won’t take the time to do this, it’s easier for some to just buy a new one, but I have found generally that companies will help you out – they want you to be happy and buy more stuff later!